hunt. Findlayson's compliments, and all thatgenteel nonsense; and come as many as can. Why, the kangaroos, drat'em, are eating us up. What with them and the dingoes we've been havingfine times, I can tell ye!"
"Well, it seems to me, Bill, your master is always in trouble. Lastyear it was the blacks, the year before he was visited by bushrangers,wasn't he?"
"Ye-es. Fact is we're a bit too far north, and a little too much outwest, and so everything gets at us like."
"And when is the hunt?"
"Soon's we can gather."
"I'm going for one," said Etheldene.
"What _you_, Miss?" said Hurricane Bill. "You're most too young, ain'tye?"
The girl did not condescend to answer him.
"Come, sir, we'll ride on," she said to Archie.
And away they flew.
"Depend upon it, Bill, if she says she is going, go she will, andthere's an end of it."
"Humph!" That was Bill's reply. He always admitted he had "no greatfancy for womenfolks."
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
ROUND THE LOG FIRE--HURRICANE BILL AND THE TIGER-SNAKE--GENTLEMANCRAIG'S RESOLVE.
Kangaroo driving or hunting is one of the wild sports of Australia,though I have heard it doubted whether there was any real sport in it.It is extremely exciting, and never much more dangerous than a rideafter the hounds at home in a rough country.
It really does seem little short of murder, however, to surround theanimals and slay them wholesale; only, be it remembered, they areextremely hard upon the herbage. It has been said that a kangaroo willeat as much as two sheep; whether this be true or not, these animalsmust be kept down, or they will keep the squatter down. Every otherspecies of wild animal disappears before man, but kangaroos appear toimagine that human beings were sent into the bush to make two blades ofgrass grow where only one grew before, and that both blades belong tothem.
The only people from Burley New Farm who went to the Findlayson kangaroodrive were Harry, Archie, and Etheldene, and Craig to look after her.Me. Winslow stopped at home with Bob, to give him advice and suggestimprovements; for he well knew his daughter would be safe with GentlemanCraig.
It was a long ride, however, and one night was to be spent in camp; butas there was nothing to do, and nothing in the shape of cattle or sheepto look after, it was rather jolly than otherwise. They found adelightful spot near a clear pool and close by the forest to make theirpitch on for the night.
Hurricane Bill was the active party on this occasion; he found wood withthe help of Harry, and enough of it to last till the morning. Thebeauty, or one of the beauties, of the climate in this part of Australiais, that with the sun the thermometer sinks, and the later spring andeven summer nights are very pleasant indeed.
When supper was finished, and tea, that safest and best of stimulants,had been discussed, talking became general; everybody was in goodspirits in the expectation of some fun on the morrow; for a longish ridethrough the depth of that gloomy forest would bring them to the plainand to Findlayson's in time for a second breakfast.
Hurricane Bill told many a strange story of Australian life, but all inthe way of conversation; for Bill was a shy kind of man, and wanted agood deal of drawing-out, as the dog said about the badger.
Archie gave his experiences of hunting in England, and of shooting andfishing and country adventure generally in that far-off land, and he hadno more earnest listener than Etheldene. To her England was the land ofromance. Young though she was, she had read the most of Walter Scott'snovels, and had an idea that England and Scotland were still peopled aswe find these countries described by the great wizard, and she did notwish to be disillusioned. The very mention of the word "castle," or"ruin," or "coat of mail," brought fancies and pictures into her mindthat she would not have had blotted out on any account.
Over and over again, many a day and many a time, she had made Archiedescribe to her every room in the old farm; and his turret chamber highup above the tall-spreading elm trees, where the rooks built and cawedin spring, and through which the wild winds of winter moaned and soughedwhen the leaves had fallen, was to Etheldene a veritable room infairyland.
"Oh," she said to-night, "how I should love it all! I do want to go toEngland, and I'll make father take me just once before I die."
"Before ye die, miss!" said Hurricane Bill. "Why it is funny to hearthe likes o' you, with all the world before ye, talkin' about dying."
Well, by-and-by London was mentioned, and then it was Harry's turn. Hewas by no means sorry to have something to say.
"Shall I describe to you, Miss Winslow," he said, "some of the wildsights of Whitechapel?"
"Is it a dreadfully wild place, Mr Brown?"
"It is rather; eh, Johnnie?"
"I don't know much about it, Harry."
"Well, there are slums near by there, miss, that no man with a blackcoat and an umbrella dare enter in daylight owing to the wild beasts.Then there are peelers."
"What are peelers? Monkeys?"
"Yes, miss; they are a sort of monkeys--blue monkeys--and carry stickssame as the real African ourang-outangs do. And can't they use themtoo!"
"Are they very ugly?"
"Awful, and venomous too; and at night they have one eye that shines inthe dark like a wild cat's, and you've got to stand clear when thateye's on you."
"Well," said Etheldene, "I wouldn't like to be lost in a place likethat. I'd rather be bushed where I am. But I think, Mr Brown, you arelaughing at me. Are there any snakes in Whitechapel?"
"No, thank goodness; no, miss. I can't stand snakes much."
"There was a pretty tiger crept past you just as I was talking though,"she said with great coolness.
Harry jumped and shook himself. Etheldene laughed.
"It is far enough away by this time," she remarked. "I saw somethingripple past you, Harry, like a whip-thong. I thought my eyes had madeit."
"You brought it along with the wood perhaps," said Craig quietly.
"'Pon my word," cried Harry, "you're a lot of Job's comforters, all ofyou. D'ye know I won't sleep one blessed wink to-night. I'll fancyevery moment there is a snake in my blanket or under the saddle."
"They won't come near you, Mr Brown," said Craig. "They keep as faraway from Englishmen as possible."
"Not always," said Bill. "Maybe ye wouldn't believe it, but I wasbitten and well-nigh dead, and it was a tiger as done it. And if Iain't English, then there ain't an Englishman 'twixt 'ere and Melbourne.See that, miss?" He held up a hand in the firelight as he spoke.
"Why," said Etheldene, "you don't mean to say the snake bit off halfyour little finger?"
"Not much I don't; but he bit me _on_ the finger, miss. I was aswagsman then, and was gathering wood, as we were to-night, when I gotnipped, and my chum tightened a morsel of string round it to keep thepoison away from the heart, then he laid the finger on a stone andchopped it off with his spade. Fact what I'm telling you. But thepoison got in the blood somehow all the same. They half carried me toIrish Charlie's hotel. Lucky, that wasn't far off. Then they stuck thewhiskey into me."
"Did the whiskey kill the poison?" said Archie.
"Whiskey kill the poison! Why, young sir, Charlie's whiskey would havekilled a kangaroo! But nothing warmed me that night; my blood feltfrozen. Well, sleep came at last, and, oh, the dreams! 'Twere worseten thousand times than being wi' Daniel in the den o' lions. Next daynobody hardly knew me; I was blue and wrinkled. I had aged ten years ina single night."
"I say," said Harry, "suppose we change the subject."
"And I say," said Craig, "suppose we make the beds."
He got up as he spoke, and began to busy himself in preparations forEtheldene's couch. It was easily and simply arranged, but thearrangement nevertheless showed considerable forethought.
He disappeared for a few minutes, and returned laden with all thenecessary paraphernalia. A seven-foot pole was fastened to a tree; theother end supported by a forked stick, which he sharpe
ned and drove intothe ground. Some grass was spread beneath the pole, a blanket throwncarefully over it, the upturned saddle put down for a pillow, and a tentformed by throwing over the pole a loose piece of canvas that he hadtaken from his saddle-bow, weighted down by some stones, and the wholewas complete.
"Now, Baby," said Craig, handing Etheldene a warm rug, "will you bepleased to retire?"
"Where is my flat candlestick?" she answered. Gentleman Craig pointedto the Southern Cross.